Here's What You Need To Know About Rick Perry's Prayer Rally

In addition to Lane and the AFA, several other evangelical heavyweights are listed as “honorary co-chairs” for The Response. The illustrious roster, displayed prominently on the event’s website, includes James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Richard Land, a prominent member of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Well-known minority evangelical leaders Tony Evans, a Dallas pastor, and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the Hispanic Evangelical Association, are also listed as co-chairs.

This Christian fringe movement is quickly gaining acceptance among mainstream fundamentalist evangelicals. Their explosive growth that can be attributed to the proliferation of New Apostolic “prayer networks.” It is through these national networks — which operate outside of any specific church or denomination — that organizers are mobilizing followers for The Response.

Stringer and his fellow Response organizers — including prominent New Apostles Jim Garlow and Alice Patterson — have tapped into this national web of interlocking networks to mobilize followers for Perry's prayer rally. As we have previously written, these networks operate more like political campaigns than churches, using email, cell phones, and social media to connect a widespread spiritual community that includes churches and ministries across the country.

The cross-section of mainstream evangelicals and more conservative fundamentalists involved in The Response was intentional, Bearse notes. “It is all about the diversity of the body of Christ.”